Pictures of Times Past
By Diane Echelbarger & Spifff, unaffiliated
Thursday, August 8, 6:23pm
Toronto General Hospital, room 417, ICU
Dinner had been served before Spifff arrived with Diane's things. Which
wouldn't have bothered Diane quite so much if dinner hadn't consisted of a
bowl of lukewarm chicken noodle soup, a dozen saltless saltines, a glass
of skim milk, and a bowl of vanilla yoghurt for dessert. ("Gotta start
you off easy, after almost two weeks off solid food", the smarmy guy from
foodservice had explained. Diane had almost thrown the bowl of yoghurt at
him.)
When her friend finally arrived, Diane gratefully put the rest of her meal
aside and filled them in as she took the pale-blue box onto her lap.
"A red fur bikini?" Spifff gasped. "They *die*, now."
"*That* would be much too good for them. I have something much more
appropriate in mind," Diane promised with a wicked grin, and patted the
box.
"What's in there?" Spifff perched on the edge of the bed next to her
injured friend and began helping herself to the leftovers from Diane's
dinner.
"It's my photo collection." Diane smirked. "I keep saying I'm gonna get
albums and organize 'em, but I never get around to it." She opened the
box, revealing more than a dozen envelopes stuffed with pictures. "I
brought it up 'cause I figured you guys might want to see the photos from
NATPE and MediaWest. I've got copies of Jennie's photos from last year's
Giggly and T-Trek10 in here somewhere, too."
"Total coolness!" Spifff bounced a little on the bed. "Can I see?"
Diane grinned and flipped open the first envelope. "Media," she
commented, and gave it to Spifff, and opened the next. "NATPE, and an FK
party at my place." She handed that one to her friend, too.
As Spifff looked at the pictures, asking for occasional ID's on the
people, Diane sorted through the rest of the envelopes. When she found
the one of herself in a Victorian nursemaid's uniform (with her then-six-
month-old godson in the pram) she knew she was close. A minute later, she
pulled out a 4x6 print with a cry of triumph.
"Got it!" She waved the color snapshot in front of her hostess. "This'll
show her!"
"Huh?" Spifff looked at the picture while choking on a saltine. "Like,
who's that?"
"Jennie Hayes. I made her the costume in '92." Diane grimaced. "She's
Head NatPacker, and one of only two FK folk who know about that old
Blake's 7 costume of mine."
"That picture looks kinda tame," Spifff ventured.
"To someone from our time, maybe," Diane agreed. "But to a Victorian,
*this* is a Playboy cover." She grinned. "How fast can you get an
enlargement of this? I don't have the negative."
"Why?" Spifff asked.
Diane told her.
By the time she was finished, they both wore the same maniacal smile.